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Mamutoi
The Mamutoi are a Cro-Magnon people who live in the area now known as Ukraine. They are known for hunting mammoths; even their name translates to "The Children of the Great Earth Mother who Hunt Mammoth." They are featured promiently in The Mammoth Hunters. Culture The Mamutoi live on the steppes just to the east of the Beran Sea, and utilize every possible part of the giant woolly mammoths which they hunt to survive, even going so far as to use their enormous arching tusks and heavy bones as supports for their dwellings. They organize themselves into Camps, each led by a brother and sister pair, and within those Camps they are divided into Hearths. These leaders share joint leadership of the Camp, and each is equally respected. A Camp's Hearths are identified by animal names, and each is associated with a certain line of kinship and degree of social status, such as the Crane Hearth, the Lion Hearth, and the Aurochs Hearth. Men and women are treated equally, with some religious or authoritative duties assumed only by women because of their greater similarity to their Goddess; a man's heirs are not the children of his own hearth, but rather his sister's children. They hold an annual Summer Meeting, at which ceremonies such as First Rites and Matrimonials take place, as well as organized hunts and games. During the Summer Meeting, the Mamutoi Council of Sisters and Council of Brothers meet, as well as the various members of the Mammoth Hearth. The Mammoth Hearth is the Mamutoi term for the organization of Those Who Serve the Great Earth Mother; the individuals are known as Mamuts. Ayla was adopted into the Mammoth Hearth when she became a member of the Lion Camp by the Camp's Mamut, who was perhaps the oldest living Mamutoi and whose birth name had long since faded from memory. By virtue of his age and spiritual power, he was considered First of the Mammoth Hearth. The Mamutoi call the Great Earth Mother by the name of Mut. Women known as 'red-foots' are charged with teaching adolescent boys about sex, similar to donii-women amongst the Zelandonii. They are known as red-foots due to using red ochre to dye their feet, symbolising their sacred role. Like many other tribes, the Mamutoi generally view the Clan as animals and children of mixed spirits and those that bear them as 'abominations' or subhuman, to the point where when the hybrid child Rydag died, the mamuts refused to give him a proper funeral. This is not a universally-held belief though; Mamut, who lived with the Clan for some time as a young man, knows they are intelligent people, Nezzie of the Lion Camp willingly adopted Rydag and she, her mate and children treat him as one of the family. In time, the entire Lion Camp comes to accept Rydag and also defend Ayla, when she is otracised by others for being raised by a clan and having a mixed son. It is mentioned that compared to the Zelandonii, the Mamutoi tend to be more frank and open in their social interactions. Ayla, who was raised by people incapable of lying, is quite comfortable amongst them as a result, whilst Jondalar initially finds their directness and even bluntness somewhat jarring, as the Zelandonii tend to be more subtle and mindful of social graces. Mamutoi language is said to be similar in structure and wording to S'Armunai and they have a few ties with these people. They also have close ties to the Sharamudoi, who are their closest neighbours, with the two tribes being known for intermarrying with one another. Technology Mamutoi earthlodges are constructed by digging down to the permafrost during summer and deeply embedding the root-ends of matched mammoth tusks to make supports, which are then lashed together at the top. Other animal bones are then used as "bricks" to form part of the walls, and whole mammoth hides are draped over the supports on the outside, then covered in clay and mud, which forms a thick, hard outer shell, while the hide seals in heat. They use the stiff dried intestines of mammoth, buried carefully from each hearth to the outside, as natural bellows which direct wind to their fires and are sealed with controllable stoppers of bone. This innovation is crucial, as their homeland has very little wood to burn or build with; by using wind to control the heat of the fire, they are able to burn bone, which is much more abundant to them. Camps * Amber Camp * Falcon Camp * Lion Camp * Mammoth Camp * Willow Camp * Wolf Camp Category:Cultures